Pro Wrestling emulating MMA – flattery or forgery?

Martial arts has always been a small part of Pro Wrestling. However, it’s been a growing trend for some time now. The entertainment of pro wrestling has gone from exaggerated elbow drop finishes, to submission moves originally seen on UFC pay-per-views.

After watching a video online of Brock Lesnar pulling off a bone snapping kimura on his foe, Triple H, I couldn’t help but see it as a reenactment of the real snapping of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s shoulder at the hands of Frank Mir recently. This was not the first occurrence I’ve noticed of pro wrestlers incorporating MMA either. I remember tuning into Spike for a UFC event once and catching the end of TNA. The wrestlers went back and forth in submissions, to standing in muay thai stances. This was a huge difference from my childhood memories of the WWF with Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels fighting on a ladder to reach a hanging belt.

Maybe I caught random instances of this I thought. Maybe. But after hearing Bellator CEO, Bjorn Rebney and TNA president, Dixie Carter on MMA Uncensored speaking on King Mo’s new MMA and pro wrestling contract including an intervening storyline between the two groups – it’s obviously here to stay.

As the saying goes, imitation is the biggest form of flattery. To some however, it looks as if the industry is emulating the attraction that is MMA, simply because of its popularity. Either way, legally there is no issue at this point.

Repetition is the highest form of flattery. Subs where always a part of Pro wrestling so they took a few extra ones off of MMA,no big deal,maybe MMA can borrow The Chicken Wing and Figure 4 leg lock off pro wrestling hahaha

Personally, wrestling needed this as it was starting to fade out drastically. This is no where near the first that this has been happening. Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn were both in WWE many years ago, and it breathed some well needed life into pro wrestling at that point in time.

without pro wrestling there wouldnt be mma , antonio inoki would hold events back in the 70s , mitsuyo maeda who was a catch wrestler was fundmental in the formation of bjj , which in turn help in the fomation of ufc

Doesn’t really matter the only negative part is when kids try to copy some of the shit not knowing how to properly place choked are know when to release a hold they had a kid kill his uncle here in Louisiana with a rear naked choke after watching gay ass wrestle mania

I do agree with Ken who cares. I do think that mma and wrestling should make warning videos and make it a huge point of what could happen. It all lies in responsibility. We owe that to our kids because whether some parents ban their kids from it they eventually go behind their back and watch anyway. trust me I did this with things when I was younger.

There are some that say Japanese MMA, and by extension North American MMA, sprang from pro wrestling, or puroresu. At least one prominent MMA style, catch-wrestling, is in fact the martial art form pro wrestlers use to defend themselves when things go off-script in the ring, or get out of hand in a bar or nightclub. That being understood, I see neither a conflict between the 2 athletic endeavors nor a reason any MMA fan should take offense…